Next-generation mobile devices are morphing from voice-centric telephones to message and multimedia-based “smart” phones that offer attractive new features. As an example, smart phones offer robust multimedia features such as web-browsing, audio and video playback and streaming, email access and a rich gaming environment. But even as manufacturers race to deliver ever more feature rich mobile devices, the challenge of powering them looms large.
In particular, the impressive growth of high bandwidth applications for radio-frequency (RF) hand-held devices has led to increased demand for efficient power saving techniques to increase battery life. Because the power amplifier of the mobile device consumes a large percentage of the overall power budget of the mobile device, various power management systems have been proposed to increase the overall power efficiency of the power amplifier.
As an example, some power managements systems may use a VRAMP power control voltage to control the voltage presented on a power amplifier collector of a linear RF power amplifier. As another example, other power management schemes may use a buck converter power supply and a class AB amplifier in tandem to provide power to the linear RF power amplifier.
Even so, there remains a need to further improve the power efficiency of mobile devices to provide extended battery life. As a result, there is a need to improve the power management system of mobile devices.